Department for Education

Public Buildings: Defibrillators

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that each school and public building has an accessible defibrillator.

Lord Nash: The government knows how important swift access to defibrillators can be in cases of cardiac arrest. That is why we are encouraging schools to purchase a defibrillator as part of their first-aid equipment. To help enable schools to do so, the Department for Education have negotiated a deal with NHS Supply Chain to offer defibrillators to schools at a reduced cost, and have published advice on installing and maintaining defibrillators on school premises. Since this scheme was launched in 2014, over 1800 schools have purchased defibrillators through this route. We continue to work with the sector to raise awareness of the scheme and to refine our guidance to schools on installing and maintaining these devices. In addition, the Chancellor announced in the budget in March that the government is making available another £1 million to make public access defibrillators and coronary pulmonary resuscitation training more widely available in communities across England. This builds on last year’s funding of £1 million, which provided almost 700 more publicly accessible defibrillators in communities across England and increased the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Pupils: Personal Records

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether schools are required to collect personal data about schoolchildren and to pass these on to the Home Office, either directly or through the Department for Education; and if so, for what purposes such data are collected and transferred.

Lord Nash: The school an individual child attends will hold information about that child which will be used by the school to help ensure the child receives the best possible education. Every term the school is required, by law, to send some of this data to the Department for Education (DfE) via the school census.The majority of school census data is stored securely within the National Pupil Database to provide a clear picture of how the school system is working, at local and national level. It helps us to make sure we are allocating funds where they are needed and that no groups of children are missing out on the education they deserve. We take privacy extremely seriously and access to sensitive data held within the National Pupil database is strictly controlled.As has always been the case, where the police or Home Office have clear evidence that a child may be at risk or there is evidence of criminal activity, including illegal immigration, limited data including a pupil’s address and school details may be requested from the National Pupil Database. It is right that we share this data if it helps to keep a child safe from harm or to prevent a crime. This does not, however, include the nationality, country of birth and proficiency in English information recently introduced into school census which is collected solely for DfE analysts to use for research.The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the DfE and the Home Office sets out how this process works and the data which is shared. A copy of the MoU between the Home Office and the DfE, which covers the sharing of limited information between those parties, is available in the house library.

Children in Care

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to consult on statutory guidance on corporate parenting issued under the Children and Social Work Bill.

Lord Nash: The Department intends to consult on draft statutory guidance on the corporate parenting principles before a final version is published.

Autism: Special Educational Needs

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the National Autistic Society on their School Report 2016 which reviewed how the Special Educational Needs System is meeting the needs of children and young people on the autism spectrum in England.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the National Autistic Society’s School Report 2016 which reviewed how the Special Educational Needs System is meeting the needs of children and young people on the autism spectrum in England.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to deal with the issue identified by the National Autistic Society in their School Report 2016 on the Special Educational Needs System of children and families waiting too long and having to battle for the right support to be put in place.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to deal with the issue identified by the National Autistic Society in their School Report 2016 on the Special Educational Needs System of children and families unable to access the range of non-educational support needed at local level to help autistic young people reach their full potential.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to deal with the issue identified by the National Autistic Society in their School Report 2016 on the Special Educational Needs System of children and families unable to access the right help in school because of a lack of understanding and autism expertise across the school system, which can result in exclusions.

Lord Nash: Representatives from the National Autistic Society (NAS) met Edward Timpson, Minister of State for Vulnerable Children and Families, on 2 November to discuss the findings and recommendations of their School Report 2016. Government agrees with NAS about the importance of ensuring that the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system works well for children and young people with autism. The SEND reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014 have brought benefits for children and young people with autism and their families, including the move to more person-centred, multi-agency and participative Education, Health and Care needs assessments and plans, with the lead time for an assessment reduced from 24 to 20 weeks. Separately, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) standard specifies that an assessment for a possible autism diagnosis should begin within three months of referral, and the Government plans to improve the tracking of referral-to-assessment times for an autism diagnosis. Under the SEND Code of Practice, schools are expected to identify and support needs such as communication and social skills, with particular mention of the difficulties faced by pupils with autism. Schools therefore have a responsibility to put support in place where pupils display this type of need. Government has provided funding of more than £2m to the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to education staff in early years settings, schools and post-16 settings in order to boost workforce understanding of how best to support pupils with autism and minimise the potential for exclusion. A new framework for Initial Teacher Training programmes, published in July 2016, also includes content on special educational needs and autism for training providers to use.

Union Learning Fund

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) how much money was paid to the Union Learning Fund last year, and in total since its inception; (2) which trade unions were provided with assistance from the fund last year; (3) how much was provided in each case; and (4) whether they have plans to end these payments or re-assess their efficacy.

Lord Nash: The Union Learning Fund (ULF) is administered by Unionlearn (the TUC's learning organisation). In the 2015-16 financial year, approximately £11m of funding was allocated to support the ULF.As set out in the reply of 8 December 2015 to the Right Honourable Lord’s previous Parliamentary Question (HL3882) on this matter, the ULF was established in 1998 and funding has been provided by a number of different Departments. Between 1998-99 and 2006-07, around £70m of funding was allocated to support the ULF. Since 2006, the ULF has been administered by Unionlearn and around £116m in total has been distributed to ULF projects in respect of the financial years 2007-08 to 2015-16.The total amount of funding received by all trade unions from the ULF for the financial year 2015-16 is set out in the table below.The Department is currently in the process of finalising the grant agreement for Unionlearn and the ULF projects for the financial year 2017-18.  ULF Funding 2015-16Union Actual Amount Received 2015-16   £ AEGIS247,495Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen305,573Association of Teachers and Lecturers122,615Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union130,530Bakers and Allied Food Workers Union349,793Britannia Staff Union190,977Community183,930Communication Workers Union364,208EQUITY119,712Fire Brigades Union505,317GMB Midlands290,985GMB North West230,056GMB Southern396,720GMB Yorkshire & North Derbyshire306,367National Association of Stable Staff50,017National Union of Journalists71,736Public and Commercial Services Union742,964Professional Footballers' Association234,129Prison Officers' Association702,404Royal College of Midwives193,808Royal College of Nurses170,149National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers342,416Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists188,914Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (National)254,702Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Anfield)126,038Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Hinkley)276,209Unison National554,859Unison Northern371,393Unite1,885,648Unity52,910United Road Transport Union188,832Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers743,088Staff Union West Bromwich Building Society49,873

Asylum: Children

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of foster parents to accept unaccompanied young asylum seekers.

Lord Nash: The Government is committed to ensuring that every looked after child receives the high quality care they need in a placement that is suitable for them. We are working with partners to increase the number of suitable placements for unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Local authorities may apply for funding through the £140m Controlling Migration Fund to support capacity building including the recruitment, approval and training of foster carers. In addition, we are funding the Refugee Council and ECPAT to deliver training for foster carers and support workers across the country who are not experienced in working with unaccompanied asylum seeking or refugee children. We have also committed to evaluate the need for any additional training required by foster carers looking after unaccompanied children as part of our wider safeguarding strategy for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children, which will be published by 1 May 2017.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

North Korea: Refugees

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the governments of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea concerning reports of 30 North Korean defectors in China who are facing repatriation.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The UK Government has raised the issue of non-refoulement with the Chinese on several occasions, including at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue on 27 and 28 October 2016 at which the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma), spoke. The UK remains concerned that China continues to regard North Koreans fleeing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as economic migrants, rather than refugees under the 1951 refugee convention. Despite claims by the DPRK authorities that forcibly repatriated refugees are well treated and reintegrated into DPRK society, reports suggest that they are often mistreated by the authorities. We continue to raise our serious concerns about DPRK human rights directly with the regime through our bilateral engagement and in international fora.

North Korea: Embassies

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with the Republic of Korea and their National Intelligence Service regarding claims by Thae Yong Ho that he took copies of all financial reports and receipts from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Embassy in London before travelling to Seoul; and whether they will act on any information that suggests the DPRK Embassy in London is engaging in illicit activities.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: It is the long standing policy of successive Governments that we do not comment on intelligence and security matters. Regarding any allegations of illicit activity, I refer the noble Lord to my answer of 22 June in response to his question of 13 June 2016 (HL607) in which I stated that we treat all allegations of criminal offences committed by those with diplomatic immunity seriously, and work closely with police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure an appropriate response to all allegations.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Lord Touhig: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to make up the shortfall in Armed Forces recruitment.

Lord Touhig: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to increase recruitment to the Armed Forces to the levels set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

Earl Howe: The Armed Forces, both Regular and Reserve, are currently recruiting through active and targeted campaigns such as 'Made in the Royal Navy' (Navy), 'A Better You' and 'With Heart. With Mind' (Army) and 'No Ordinary Job' (RAF), and seeking to increase engagement and activity in communities which have historically been under-represented in the Armed Forces. However, a national skills shortage and a strong growing economy mean that we cannot take future recruitment for granted. In response we have in place a number of short and long-term plans to ensure that the offer of military service in the Armed Forces continues to be competitive, so that we can recruit and retain in sufficient quantity to meet the strength targets set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.